Media Asset Management (MAM) Systems
Systems referred to as media asset management (MAM) systems or digital asset management (DAM) systems permit efficient management of multi-media information (media contents) and thus allow to achieve economic benefits and competitive advantages.
A “media asset” typically describes a form of content which is provided for use in electronic systems in a structured, weakly structured and unstructured form. A “media asset” consists of multi-media unstructured information objects (such as audio and video) and of structured meta-information. By adding structured metadata, a media information object representing merely information becomes a “valued asset” which is available, researchable, reusable and can also be commercially traded. The structured metadata contain for example information about the author, copy rights, creation date and format information as well as content descriptions, technical and content-related classifications or ratings.
A MAM system manages random contents (media assets) about metadata and databases and controls access and use in connection with a digital rights management (DRM) and accounting system. MAM systems are designed for high scalability in order to store very large amounts of data and arranged for the conversion of contents in order to make the stored contents available in different formats for online use and for distribution.
The MAM system provides for the reception, storage, categorising, indexing and provision of media assets on the premise of permitting high editing speeds and optimal reuse. The basic set-up of a MAM system includes functions such as tagging and indexing, mechanisms for data security and access control, media-specific data management, complex search functions via metadata as well as automatic image content recognition, support of the workflow during media production, version management and administration as well as management of copyrights, digital signatures, watermarks and licenses.
Processing Media Data
There are several possibilities for processing image data. As shown in FIG. 1, conventional systems begin by creating a media file from the video signal in a high resolution (high resolution—HiRes) file format, such as ProRes 4:2:2 HD, DNX HD, etc. In cutting systems, when cutting a contribution/program a cutting list is created which is based on the high-resolution image material and sound material.
After the media file (HighRes file) has been created and stored in the storage facility, a process of rendering and transcoding begins in order to create a “low-resolution” file from this high-resolution format of the file, in particular in order to make the media file accessible via the internet, for example. In the jargon the result may also be called a low-resolution (LoRes) proxy file (LowRes file) which is used for reviewing and editing in the network. These low-resolution media files encode the media data for example with the aid of a H.264 code.
This transcoding process takes about ¼ to ⅙ of the time which the media data (e.g. the film or more generally a recording) in high-resolution needs for playback in real time. This process requires a lot of computing power since a transcoding process has to initially decode internally all data and then has to encode it using another low-resolution codec (e.g. transcoding from a XD CAM HDS codec into a H.264 codec). Normally the entire computing power of the computer which executes such a transcoding is used and blocked. The low-resolution media content is not available for viewing via e.g. the internet or in the network (e.g. LAN) until after it has been transcoded as LoRes files. Furthermore it also means that in case a certain material of the high-resolution media file is to be used at another location, the high-resolution media file must first be transmitted—by means of a satellite feed, for example—to the destination, involving correspondingly huge amounts of data to be moved.